Secrets
by xodramionexo
Summary: Hermione has an unexpected house guest when she returns home for summer break. School will never be the same.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Cooperation

When Hermione came home for the summer, she had expected a rather solemn vacation. She was hoping she could help out at her father's practice, to try and bond with him. Lately, she had realized a growing distance between her and her parents. While she was not the least bit interested in dentistry, she wouldn't mind putting on a show for the benefit of her relationship. Of course she would blame their relationship issues on her absence and lack of interest with everything that had been going on with her life at Hogwarts. She was preparing for Voldemort's return, and she needed to be ahead of the game. It seemed as the years went on, it was harder for Hermione to blend her two separate lives together.

Within two weeks of returning home, Hermione began to feel uneasy. She was beginning to have night terrors and panic attacks. While she didn't tell her parents about these incidents, she knew it wouldn't be long until someone found out. She felt as if someone had been watching her from a distance, and he paranoia was peeking to a point that was driving her insane.

One afternoon, Hermione was sitting on her bed looking through a few books she borrowed from the restricted section in the library of Hogwarts. Her mother knocked on the door, making Hermione jump out of her skin. Quickly, she closed the books and stood up. Pressing the door open, her mother entered the room with a gentle smile.

"Hermione, there's someone here to see you."

"Who is it?" Hermione' eyes narrowed, reaching for her wand which was underneath her pillow.

"Oh, I don't remember his name. He says he's your friend from school. He's right here, actually." Her mother opened the door further, as Hermione gripped and raised her wand towards the figure who entered the room.

"Hermione..." Harry put his hands up, showing her that he meant no harm.

"Harry!" Hermione dropped her wand and lunged forward to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. She felt a sudden rush of relief.

Hermione wasn't interested in Harry as more than a friend. He was more like the older brother she never had. Harry always had a way of making Hermione feel safe. So for a split second, she let her guard down. There was an odd sensation that came over her mother's face.

"I'll give you two some privacy." Her mother left the room, sending the odd tension.

"Hermione, what are all these books?" Harry scanned over the pile on her bed.

"They're...just light reading, for summer." Hermione said, trying to cover her tracks, but failing triumphantly.

"These are not just light reading..." He scanned through a few, "Hermione, you haven't spent two weeks cooping yourself up in your room reading about dark magic and such, have you?"

"I just think we need to be prepared. I don't think we fully know what we're up against." Hermione picked up her wand from the ground.

"You don't look well. Have you slept much?" Harry inquired, taking a step towards her, "Your face is hot, do you have a fever?" He gently raised the back of his hand and pressed it to her forehead.

"Harry stop!" Hermione accidentally stated, "I'm sorry...I'm fine. I'm fine, okay?"

"You're restless." Harry took a step away from her and sat on the edge of his bed. "Listen, I came over here to tell you...to tell you something you're not going to like."

"Well spit it out, Harry." Hermione snapped.

He took a slow breath as his gaze fell toward the ground. Harry had came to see her with one intention. And he knew that he would probably be unable to make his desire come true, but he couldn't help himself from at least giving it a shot.

"Hermione, from the time I was a child...Voldemort had targeted me. All my life, this War, this final battle, it's between him and I. You, Ron, and the rest of our friends have been right here battling alongside me for all these years. It's time to put this thing to rest." Harry explained gently to her.

"Yes, Harry. I agree. And we're going to get through this together. We're going to defeat him once and for all." Hermione let a small smile escape from her lips.

"No." Harry firmly said, taking a moment to form his thoughts into words. "No, Hermione, we're not. But I am."

"Wh-what are you saying?" Hermione's eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms. "You think we're just going to stand off to the side?"

"I'm asking you to. Please. I don't want any more deaths, I don't want any more pain, I don't want to cause harm to anyone else. I have asked for so much over the years, I can't possibly ask for this." Harry tried to defend himself the best he could.

"No...no. No!" Hermione shouted at him. "You can't possibly ask us to do that! You can't think that we will just withdraw from this. That won't happen, Harry." Hermione shook her head in dismay.

"I can't see one more person suffer in place of me. If he wants my life, than he can take it!" Harry told her, "I'll fight with every piece inside me, but I'm no longer hiding from him behind other people-it's just not right!" Harry exclaimed, standing from her bed.

And suddenly, there it was. A loud, harsh smack across Harry's face. He became wide eyed, as he put his hand over the fresh wound. Looking at Hermione in awe, his lips parted. Harry attempted to form words, but nothing coherent came to his mind.

"How dare you." Hermione stated lowly in a tone he had never heard from her before. "How dare you come to my house and ask me such a ridiculous thing. You think that just because you're the chosen one, just because you think that you have something to prove, that somehow that makes your battle so much more than the rest of ours?" Hermione questioned, as Harry stood speechless. "You think that you're the only one who is fighting a war raging inside them? You think you're the only one who has lost what's most important to them? You think you're the only one who's suffered, who's been stripped away of dignity? You think you're the only one who's been wronged by Voldemort?" She watched her friend standing silently. "This isn't just your fight, Harry."

It was in that moment that something changed within her. It was as if all of the endless nights of tossing, all the endless tears from panic, all the vivid dreams that filled her nights became worth it. Yes, she was weak, and she felt on guard for her life at every moment. She was plagued with knowing and having seen too much. But she refused to let that define her as an easy target. This was going to make her stronger.

"I'm sorry." Harry hung his head down. "You're right, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," Hermione nodded, walking Harry out of her room. "It was good to see you, though. I hope you stop by again soon." They reached her front door.

"Hermione," Harry lowered his voice.

"Yes?"

"Thank you." Harry gave her a sincere look and walked out of the house.

When Hermione walked back to her room, she was suddenly pained with a sense of uneasiness. Hermione grabbed her wand and walked to her window which was now open. Slamming it shut, she felt a hand over her mouth, while another wrapped around her waist. She struggled with the person holding her, trying to bite down on the hand over her mouth. Pointing her wand at the person behind her, she tried to mutter a spell. But a different spell was cast, knocking her wand to the ground. In her attempt to break free, she began to have a panic attack. She pushed and pulled harder, feeling a lack of oxygen. A tear escaped from her eyes and suddenly everything was black.

When Hermione awoke, she was lying on the floor of her bedroom. She lifted herself up to a seated position and looked around her groggily. Searching for her wand, Hermione rushed to get up. In her unsuccessful attempts, she lunged towards her bedroom door, hoping to warn her family. But a figure jumped in front of her, blocking her escape route.

"I put a spell on your room. No one in this household can hear us. It's just you and I." A familiar voice said.

"D-Draco?" Hermione's lips parted as she took a step back.

"Don't be so scared, Granger. If I wanted you dead, you wouldn't be alive right now." Draco looked at her closely.

"I'm not scared of you, Malfoy." Hermione crossed her arms, "What do you want?"

"Your cooperation."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Scars

Hermione saw her wand in Draco's hand. He slid it in his pocket and eyed her cautiously. He wouldn't admit it, but he was intimidated by the girl. He was a very talented wizard, but there was no doubt that it would be a close call if the two battled. Plus, Draco wasn't looking for a fight. He was looking for help. And while this was the last place he wanted to be, he found himself standing in Granger's room.

"Have you come to take me as hostage or something?" Hermione wondered, biting her bottom lip.

"No...I'm hoping you'll take me instead." Draco said under his breath.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione took a step away from Draco, trying to think of an escape plan.

"I heard your fight with Potter." Draco admitted, "As much as I hate to admit it, you were right. There's a lot of us fighting our own battles. It's not just Potter."

"And what's your fight, Draco?" Hermione scoffed, "Purifying the races?"

"It's not like that, Granger." Draco shook his head. "There's a lot of things you don't understand. I'm switching sides, Granger."

She couldn't help but to laugh at the idea. "Switching sides? You?"

Draco had spent all of his years at Hogwarts making life Hell for Hermione and her friends. This wasn't a subject that people could suddenly flip flop around about. She couldn't imagine the boy leaving his whole family and life behind. Especially for him to wind up at her house in the middle of summer.

"What do you want from me?" Hermione tried to muster a serious face.

"I have no place to go. No one will shelter me." Draco tried to explain.

"You want to stay here? With me? A mudblood?" Hermione crossed her arms.

Draco let his head hang low for a moment. There was so much the witch didn't know. And even if she knew, she probably wouldn't believe him. Could she not see how unbearably hard this was for him? He was practically laying at his enemy's feet, asking for a place to stay. He was the boy who always had everything, but in this moment he had absolutely nothing at all. Coming to her of all people was the craziest place he could have gone to. But he knew that out of anyone, she would be the only one with enough heart to at least try to understand.

Hermione stood in front of the boy, weighing out her options. She was well aware that this could very well be a trap. He could be plotting to get inside information, or even kill her off in the middle of the night. She was not Malfoy's friend and she doubt that she ever could be. Brushing a strand of hair behind her right ear, Hermione thought about what she was going to do. While she was almost certain this was just a trap, a small piece of her truly felt that Draco was telling the truth. It was something in his demeanor, something that made her feel like he was ashamed of what he was doing.

Maybe it was the sleepless nights, the exhaustion of prepping, or the grogginess of passing out. Regardless, Hermione knew that she had to at least give him a chance. If he was really switching sides, he would have a lot of inside information that they could use. Thinking of ways to use him to her advantage, Hermione sat down on the side of her bed. If she was going to go through with this, she would have to be sneaky about it. Her parents couldn't know that there was a boy living in her room, more importantly, Harry and Ron couldn't find out. At least, not until she was absolutely positive that she made the right move.

"I know I have a lot of explaining to do. I know you're probably weary of my intentions and I don't blame you. Please know that I am sorry for things that happened before. If we could start over...if we could somehow put the past behind us..." Draco tried his hardest to sound sincere.

"No." Hermione dismissed his wish, "I will never forget about the past. It will always be there. I don't trust you, Draco. But out of pure goodness, I'm going to let you stay. If you step put of line even once, you're leaving."

"That's fair." He nodded.

"And you're going to tell me how this all happened. There's going to be rules, strict ones. If you break them, you're out. Got it?" Hermione looked at him the way a mother does when scolding a small child.

"Got it." Draco whispered, acknowledging the seriousness of her tone.

"It's late." Hermione grabbed a few blankets from her closet and handed them to Draco. "Sleep on the other side of the room." She watched him walk to the window. "Oh, and Draco..." Hermione stood up a bit taller. "Give me back my wand." She put her hand out and waited. Draco walked towards her slowly and reached into his pocket. There was a mutual understanding when he finally placed her wand into her small hand.

"Goodnight, Granger."

"Goodnight, Malfoy." Hermione shut off the light and got into bed, gripping onto her wand tightly.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Hermione woke before Draco did. She walked out to the kitchen to find that both of her parents had left. So she decided to make breakfast. When Draco finally woke up, he stumbled lazily out of her room. Hermione watched him cautiously emerging from the hallway in nothing but pajama pants. Her cheeks turned red as she turned away and opened the fridge.<p>

"You're cooking?" Draco took in a deep breath. "Do you cook well?"

"It's free food, I wouldn't complain if I were you." Hermione turned around to see Draco sitting at the table.

"You're a female, I'd imagine you couldn't screw it up that much." Draco watched Hermione put a plate of food in front of him. Her eyes shifted up to his in anger. "I'm joking, Granger. Don't be so serious."

Hermione sat across from him in silence and ate her food. He tried multiple times to make small talk, but she refused to exchange commentary with him. She had too many things on her mind to try and have a polite conversation with her sworn enemy. Trying to make sense of what happened last night, Hermione rubbed her forehead. She had either made a good decision or an extremely bad one. Looking up, she saw Draco take his last bite of food. Lifting a glass to his lips, Draco felt her eyes melting into him.

"I can wash these." Draco stood up and took the dishes to the sink beside the fridge.

Standing from her chair, Hermione watched the boy in the kitchen. She suddenly noticed his bare back. Her cheeks turned a few shades redder when she glanced over his figure again. He had never made her feel uneasy or self conscious like this before. It was something about the situation that confused her. Draco Malfoy was washing dishes in her sink at her house in his pajamas. He was something she couldn't have, which had to be the only reason she was having mixed feelings. She could look but she could never touch. Inching closer to him, she noticed red marks along his skin. Taking a few steps closer, her eyes focused on his back, realizing twenty odd more arranged erratically. She reached her hand out as if to touch the scars, just in time for Draco to turn around.

"S-sorry," Hermione drew her hand away. "Draco...your-your back."

"Don't worry, it's been that way for years. Every time they start to heal...well, you get the picture." He walked into the living room, looking at her house for the first time.

"Who did that to you?" Hermione questioned, feeling an odd sensation of anger rising within her.

"It just depended." Draco shrugged.

"Depended on what?" She walked after him.

"Whether or not my father was busy. If he was, it was one of his friends, or servants of the house...it just depended." Draco talked about it all so matter-of-factly.

"They abused you." Hermione's face furrowed. "Draco, that's illegal. They..." She stopped herself, realizing that she was over stepping her bounds.

"Yes, Granger. But those scars are by far the lesser half of the damage they've done to me. Most of those scars were for defying orders, for sticking up for anyone else besides Voldemort. These scars were supposed to be lessons. To act a certain way, to believe a certain way, to be someone I didn't want to be." Draco explained.

"How long have you been defying them?" Hermione questioned.

"For a few years now." He answered. "You don't understand the lifestyle I had, Granger. You don't know the way I was brought up."

"No, I don't, Draco. I don't know you at all. But I want to." Hermione let out a small breath.

There was a long period of silence between the two. "Right. Well, I'm going to take a shower." Draco walked back towards the hallway.

"The towels are in the closet." Hermione called after him before sitting down on the couch and placing her head in her hands.

What had she gotten herself into?


End file.
